Let’s never see another first-grader in handcuffs- Hechinger Report

We must end the school to prison pipeline that starts in early childhood

OPINION: Let’s never see another first-grader in handcuffs
It is far past time to end the school-to-prison pipeline that starts in early childhood

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Two first-graders in Florida are not the same children today as they were last month. Consider the distress, fear and confusion that being forcibly taken, handcuffed and driven away from your school by a police officer would cause in any 6-year-old you know. Imagine it’s your child, your grandchild.

We both worked in the Obama administration, one of us as a senior policy advisor for early childhood development, and the other as a deputy assistant to the president and policy lead on criminal justice reform. Though we shared an office suite at the White House, our work worlds rarely collided. The main exception? School discipline, an issue that brings together two topics that should be separate: early childhood and criminal justice.

Last month, our worlds collided again. Two 6-year-old black children were arrested for incidents in their first-grade classroom in Florida. The officer involved in the incident was fired. But that doesn’t erase the trauma that those children faced and will continue to face. It doesn’t fix the system that enabled the officer’s behavior.

Related: TEACHER VOICE: Breaking the school-to-prison pipeline with ‘windows and mirrors’ for black boys

After months of operating in our own “lanes,” we got in touch with each other and shared our reactions to the story.

Criminalizing the developmentally appropriate behavior of  black children is something that’s been happening for generations. In past years, there have been other well-publicized cases of school-resource officers handcuffing children whose hands are too small for CONTINUE READING: We must end the school to prison pipeline that starts in early childhood

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

The Best Social Emotional Learning Resources Of 2019 – Part Two

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

Time for another end-of-year “Best” list! I’ll be adding this list to I’m adding this post to All My 2019 “Best” Lists In One Place! I publish a regular series called SEL Weekly Update , and I thought it would useful to readers and to me to review them and highlight the ones I think are the best of the year. You might also be interested in “Best” Lists Of The Week: Social Emotional Learning Resou

YESTERDAY

Video: “FireStorm: How Wildfires Are Spread”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

skeeze / Pixabay I’m adding this new video from The Weather Channel to The Best Sites For Learning About Forest Fires:

“Students Feel More Motivated When Writing for ‘Authentic Audiences'”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

Students Feel More Motivated When Writing for ‘Authentic Audiences’ is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Shanna Peeples, Mary K. Tedrow, Amy Sandvold, and Laverne Bowers “wrap up” this five-part series on students writing for “authentic audiences.” Here are some excerpts: I’m adding it to The Best Places Where Students Can Write For An “Authentic Audience”

Video: “What if We Nuke a City?”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

TGrand / Pixabay Here’s a new and terrifying video from Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Nuclear Weapons .

We’re Taping A Four Video Series On Student Motivation This Week – Here Are A Ton Of Related Resources In The Meantime

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

geralt / Pixabay Katie Hull and I will be videotaping a four-part (short) video series on student motivation for Ed Week, and it’s happening this week! As regular readers know, I’ve written three books on the topic and have a fourth one in the works, too. The videos will be out later this year but, in the meantime, you might want to check out A Collection Of My Best Resources On Student Motivatio

New Law In California Says Schools Will Start Later In Morning – What Opportunities Might It Offer

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

California’s governor just signed a law requiring schools to start later in the morning. For our school, that will mean beginning twenty minutes later (from 8:10 to 8:30 AM). Interestingly, I seldom have had students initiate a conversation about a current event as much as they did today after reading about the law online. And it was all positive. Like our state union, I wasn’t a big fan of the b

New Resources On Indigenous Peoples’ Day & Columbus Day

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay Here are new additions to an already massive list, The Best Online Resources About Christopher Columbus & Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Columbus Day Or Indigenous Peoples’ Day? is from NPR. Illuminative is a new resource site created by Native American youth. “This isn’t a day about protesting Columbus, it’s about celebrating indigenous people,” the founder of Indigenous Peoples

My Latest BAM! Radio Show Offers Suggestions On When To Use – & Not To Use – Tech In The Classroom

by Larry Ferlazzo / 14h

Knowing When to Say Yes and When to Say No to Education Technology is the topic of my latest ten-minute BAM! Radio show. I’m joined in the discussion by Anne Jenks, Irina McGrath, and Michelle Shory, who have also all contributed written commentaries to my Education Week Teacher column. I’m adding this show to All My BAM Radio Shows – Linked With Descriptions .

Big New Study Finds That Inquiry & Problem-Based Instruction In Math/Science Is Effective

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Students Learn More From Inquiry-Based Teaching, International Study Finds is an article in Education Week that does a good job summarizing a new study finding that inquiry and problem-based teaching can be effective in math and 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Pension thieves and union busters. – Fred Klonsky

Pension thieves and union busters. – Fred Klonsky

PENSION THIEVES AND UNION BUSTERS

Mark Glennon was one of Governor Rauner’s point men on pension thievery.

Glennon publishes an online site called Wirepoints.

What is helpful about Glennon is that he and his web site embody the right wing’s key anti-worker agenda items in a single one-stop shop: Pension thievery and union busting.

It also demonstrates how out of touch they are with the public.

Polling on the issue of public pensions shows that most people in Illinois believe that pension promises should be kept.

Today’s Sun-Times released a poll showing that half of those asked support the Chicago Teacher Union in their current negotiations, even if they strike.

The poll also provides evidence that Chicagoans are not interested in demonizing either Mayor Lightfoot or CTU President Jesse Sharkey.

Both are committed to the process.

To me this  demonstrates that the public supports quality public schools AND CONTINUE READING: Pension thieves and union busters. – Fred Klonsky

Teaching with Technology in Public Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Teaching with Technology in Public Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Teaching with Technology in Public Schools

Since the early 1980s with the appearance of desktop computers in schools, questions about their presence in classrooms have been debated. Access to, use of, and results from new technologies have been central issues for a motley coalition of  high-tech vendors, technophile educators, and policymakers eager to satisfy parents and voters who want schools to be technologically up-to-date with other institutions. And this coalition has surely been successful in increasing teacher and student access to desktop computers, then laptops, and now tablets and smartphones.

First, a quick run through the initial goals and current ones in putting new technologies into the hands of teachers and students. Then a crisp look at access, use, and results of the cornucopia of devices in schools.

By the  mid-1980s, there were clear goals and a strong rationale for investing in buying loads of hardware and software and wiring buildings . Those goals were straightforward in both ads and explicit promises vendors and entrepreneurs made to school boards and administrators.

*students would learn more, faster, and better;

*classroom teaching would be more student-friendly and individualized;

*graduates would be prepared to enter the high-tech workplace.

By the early 2000s, evidence that any of these goals were achieved was either scant or missing. It became increasingly clear that promised software in math and English fell far short of raising students’ test scores or lifting CONTINUE READING: Teaching with Technology in Public Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

NYC Educator: The Lost Boys (and Girls)

NYC Educator: The Lost Boys (and Girls)

The Lost Boys (and Girls)

For some reason, not many of my colleagues ask to teach beginners, ever. It used to be different. People used to think, it seemed, it was easy to teach beginning English Language Learners. Maybe people thought, because the level was low, that the material was easy. That's true, for me at least. Basic English is not a large challenge for me. I've been using it since I was a baby, and I understand it pretty well. (Of course, you can't brag about that the way you could if you were discussing advanced physics or something. On the other hand, there's a lot more need for basic English than advanced physics.) I love to teach beginners not because the materials are easy, but because I love seeing the amazing progress they make.

There are challenges, though, that most people wouldn't anticipate. Who's in beginner classes? Well, beginners are there, of course, unless they ace one or more of the idiotic state tests that supposedly measure language levels. You never know what those tests are going to do. My tests are different. My first is to ask what your name is, where you're from, and how long you've been here. Responses to those questions can say a lot. Sometimes I have students write about whatever they want to see what they can do. Of course the geniuses in Albany know better than I do, so they don't bother with things like that.

Sometimes you'll get students classified as SIFE, which means they're missing formal education somehow. This seems to be a frequent occurrence in El Salvador, where there's a whole lot of uncertainty. The first time I encountered a student like this his Spanish teacher knew exactly what to ask. The student said he hadn't been in school since fourth grade. I called his father, who told me you had to bring the kid in by a certain date or he wouldn't get admitted to school. I found that hard to believe. I mean, if I made a mistake like that once, I wouldn't make it twice. According to Dad, he made it six times in a row. I'm sure there was more of a story there, but I was never going to hear it.

Some students don't want to learn English. It's odd, especially in teenagers. Social life was a prime directive for me as a teenager, and it seems important to most I know. This CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: The Lost Boys (and Girls)

How Do You Rank The Value Of A School?

How Do You Rank The Value Of A School?

How Do You Rank The Value Of A School?

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”– The Wizard of Oz

Despite the fact that the California Charter School Association’s (CCSA) confidential plan to steal facilities from public school students was uncovered months ago, their lackeys continue to insist that Nick Melvoin’s School Performance Framework (SPF) is the only way for parents to understand how to evaluate schools. Instead of demanding transparency with access to the raw data and information about the services that schools provide, they want bureaucrats to decide what information is important and present a ranking system that eliminates the ability of parents to make their own decisions. While they plan to use this system to decide which schools should have to give up space to charter schools beyond what is already lost under Prop 39, they oppose using it as part of the charter renewal process.

While the SPF was supposed to have already been publicly released, its implementation has been delayed. Board Member Jackie Goldberg’s pending resolution would make this delay permanent by suspending “implementation of the SPF and any launching or utilization of the SPF—including any use of stars, scores, or any other CONTINUE READING: How Do You Rank The Value Of A School?

Shanker Blog: The False Choice of Growth Versus Proficiency | National Education Policy Center

Shanker Blog: The False Choice of Growth Versus Proficiency | National Education Policy Center

Shanker Blog: The False Choice of Growth Versus Proficiency

Tennessee is considering changing its school accountability system such that schools have the choice of having their test-based performance judged by either status (how highly students score) or growth (how much progress students make over the course of the year). In other words, if schools do poorly on one measure, they are judged by the other (apparently, Texas already has a similar system in place).

As we’ve discussed here many times in the past, status measures, such as proficiency rates, are poor measures of school performance, since some students, particularly those living in poverty, enter their schools far behind their more affluent peers. As a result, schools serving larger proportions of poor students will exhibit lower scores and proficiency rates, even if they are very effective in compelling progress from their students. That is why growth models, which focus on individual student gains on over time, are a superior measure of school performance per se.

This so-called “growth versus proficiency” debate has resurfaced several times over the years, and it was particularly prevalent during the time when states were submitting proposals for their accountability systems during reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The policy that came out of these discussions was generally promising, as many states moved at least somewhat toward weighting growth model estimates more heavily. 

At the same time, however, it is important to mention that the “growth versus proficiency” debate sometimes implies that states must choose between these two types of indicators. This is misleading. And the Tennessee proposal is a very interesting context for discussing this, since they are essentially using these two types of measures interchangeably. The reality, of course, is that both types of measures transmit valuable but different information, and both have a potentially useful role to play in accountability systems.

Remember that the primary purposes of accountability systems are: 1) to compel productive behavioral changes (e.g., motivating schools to improve); and 2) to direct assistance/action where it is needed. Both CONTINUE READING: Shanker Blog: The False Choice of Growth Versus Proficiency | National Education Policy Center

NYC Public School Parents: Early voting sites in 33 NYC public schools. But why?

NYC Public School Parents: Early voting sites in 33 NYC public schools. But why?

Early voting sites in 33 NYC public schools. But why?

Early voting will begin statewide on Saturday, October 26th and continue for 11 days.  Meanwhile, 33 NYC public schools have been chosen as early voting sites out of 61 across the city, though their principals were only informed of this fact on October 5, according to the reporting of Brigid Bergin of  Gothamist/WNYC. Here and above is the list of the NYC sites by borough.

The highlighting above reveals that six of the eleven early voting sites in the Bronx, twelve of  eighteen sites in Brooklyn, eight of nine sites in Manhattan and seven of nine sites in Staten Island are public schools.  [Why there are an equal number of voting sites in Manhattan and Staten Island is another question, given that there are more than three times as many residents of Manhattan as on Staten Island.  Shouldn't the number of sites or at least the number of the voting machines be proportional to the population of each borough?]

In the 33 public schools where early voting will occur, this will deprive many thousands of students of  their ability to have their scheduled phys ed classes in their gyms and/or eat lunch in their cafeterias.   It will also poses real security risks to students, with hundreds of voters gaining access to school buildings and possibly roaming school hallways during the school day. 

One principal was quoted in the Gothamist article as saying, “I can’t not have kids [in the gym] for a week in October. That’s crazy."   

At the same time, there is not a single public school that will be used as an early voting site in the borough of Queens, as the city instead wisely located them instead in Board of Election headquarters, YMCAs, community centers, churches, colleges, museums, and even the Resort World Casino in Ozone Park.
 
I also checked the early voting sites of the 62 other New York counties on the League of Women Voters website. I could find only one other New York county that had any public schools listed: Suffolk County has one public school, Nesconset Elementary School,  among ten early voting sites.

The other hundreds of early voting sites located throughout the state include town halls and other government offices, public libraries, fire departments, YMCAs, local Board of CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Early voting sites in 33 NYC public schools. But why?